


take another breath

by Dresupi



Series: Would You Like to See Something Strange?  (Halloween Prompts) [11]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes's Trigger Words, Cryostasis Chamber, F/M, Happy Ending, Harpy Darcy Lewis, Healing, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Past Brainwashing, Peril, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Snarky Bucky Barnes, Telepathic Darcy Lewis, bent not broken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 03:39:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12334782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: Darcy Lewis is a telepath, and she's been enlisted to unwash the brain of one James Buchanan Barnes.He's equal parts snarktastic and bent, not broken.  And he's still in Cryostasis.This is Day 14 of her unwashing attempts and things get a little bird-brained.  And a little scary.  And then they play stick ball.For Day 11 of my Halloween Prompts:  Wings.





	take another breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leftennant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftennant/gifts).



> October 11: Wings
> 
> Read the tags for warnings. This was originally going to go in a longer work, but I think I can mark that down as abandoned/unposted for now. BUT, I really adored the idea and the world I set up, so I wanted to write something in that world. I hope y'all like it! :D

_ Day 14 _

Darcy’s feet dropped down on the ground.  She glanced over to her left.  Bucky was standing a few feet away from her, staring up, up, up.  

There was snow on the ground.  In the distance, she could hear a train approaching.  

_ Freight car.   _

“You sure you’re ready for this one, Buck?” she asked softly.  

He smirked.  “You’re the one who’s been pushing me so hard to get here…”  

“We haven’t even tackled ‘rusted’ or ‘furnace’ yet.  I don’t know if you’re ready for…”  The wind picked up at that moment, ruffling her feathers.  Darcy frowned, glancing down at herself.  Taking in the blue feathered wings.  The blue feathered legs.  The talons.  “Wait a minute.  Why am I a bird?”  

He snickered and shook his head.  “You ain’t a bird, dollface.”  

Sighing heavily, she took in more of her appearance, pulling a mirror out of thin air to take it in completely, before shaking her head and tossing it back into oblivion..  “James Buchanan Barnes.  You made me a harpy.”  

He laughed some more.  “You’re always sayin’ I have full control of things in here.”  

“Yeah.  But...  _ boobs _ ?  On a bird?  Really, Barnes?”  

He shrugged.  “Don’t blame  _ me _ , blame those medieval artists who drew the harpies all… womanly up top.”  

She rolled her eyes.  “Well, if I’m a harpy, I can fly, so the joke’s on you, no-wings.”  

“I can make you human again if you want,” he offered, looking her up and down once more.  

Darcy shook her head, expanding her wings fully and liking what she saw.  “Nah. I actually like these. I’ll keep ‘em for now.”  

She’d been coming into Bucky’s mind for two weeks straight now.  Unwashing his brain was proving to be more of an obstacle than even  _ she’d _ been expecting.  

As a telepath, she’d unwashed brains before.  Locked away trauma behind imaginary doors until the bearer was able to withstand dealing with it again.  

But this… this was a whole new ballpark of brainwashing.  She’d never encountered someone with this many trigger words before, with this  _ level _ of commitment given to complete erasure of their original psyche.  Usually, the brainwasher liked to keep something.  Some part of their victim intact so they could use it against them.  

But Hydra had really done a number on Bucky.  And his trigger words weren’t tied into his abuse.  No.  On the contrary, they were tied in to who he was.  They literally used  _ Bucky _ to trigger the Winter Soldier and the fact that he was able to joke with her right now?  To turn her into a harpy?  To even… dare she say it…  _ flirt _ with her a little?  In a word?  

It was  _ strong _ .  

Insanely.  

So no way was she going to squash the progress they’d made by being offended that he thought she was pushy.  

She  _ was _ pushy.  She had to be, or he’d be in cryo forever.  

And nobody wanted that.  

Least of all Bucky.  But probably second to that, Steve.  And coming in on a very  _ very _ close third?  

Her.  

Thor help her, she’d gotten attached to his snarky sense of humor. 

And she actual facts wanted to meet him.  In real life, not just in his head.  

The train was getting closer. 

And Bucky was getting more and more stoic.  Fading a little around the edges.  

“Nope.  Don’t shut me out.  You can’t turn me into this and leave me out in the cold, Bucky-babe.”  

The corner of his mouth twitched.  “I’d never leave you out in the cold, Darce. I just… I think you’re right. I’m not ready for this.”  

She nodded once.  “That’s good.  It’s good to know your limits.  Bucky, this is healthy.”  

He pressed his lips together, nodding once. “I’ll get us out.”  

It was at that moment that the entire ravine in which they were currently standing ankle deep in snow started to rumble.  

She frowned.  “What’s that?”  

Bucky didn’t answer, so she glanced over at him.  His eyes were closed, his fists were clenched.  And the rumble was getting closer.  

Gulping, she wondered if she should fly up to see what it was, or if she should stay here with him.  If he opened his eyes and she wasn’t here, he might freak out more.  

As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait for long.  

Bucky opened his eyes and reached for her.  “RUN!”  He yelped, taking off through the snow.  

She followed, not wanting to stick around and see if running was legitimately necessary.  

The rumbling was accompanied by the snapping of trees.  If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it sounded like footsteps.  Ginormous footsteps. 

She took a chance and turned, horrified by what she saw there.  

The Winter Soldier.  

Except like… forty feet tall and murder strutting across a now endless snowy forest.  Fear welled in her stomach and she tried to run faster.  

“Bucky…Buck!” she reached for him, but of course, her arms were wings and she couldn’t actually grasp him.  

_ Wings!  You have wings, idiot! _

She flapped them experimentally, snatching Bucky by the shoulders with her talons.  This wasn’t her psyche, so she couldn’t manipulate the setting, but she could damn well use what he’d given her.  

She took them up, up, up past the train that was just now roaring by, up into the clouds and onto a mountain side.  Spotting a ledge, she quickly landed them in a heap.  

Sue her, okay?  It was her first day with wings.  

He was panting, close to hyperventilating soshe scooted closer to him.  “Bucky… can you hear me?”  

He nodded. 

“Gimme my arms back please?”  

She flexed her fingers, relieved to look down and see her chipped nail polish instead of blue and green feathers.  

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she rested her forehead against his, albeit at an angle, because this was a hella awkward position.  “You see what I did there, Bucky? I flew us out.”  

He nodded.  

“You can do that too.  Maybe not with wings, but you have control here.  Hydra doesn’t.  They can’t hurt you here.  Can’t hurt you.”  

“Could hurt  _ you _ .”  

She shook her head.  “Not here. They can’t hurt me here, only you can. And you’d never hurt me, would you?”  

“Never.”  

“Okay, that’s good.  That’s good, Buck.  I’m glad to hear it.  I know I’m annoying sometimes…”  she teased.  

He laughed, without humor though, so it broke her heart a little. “You’re not annoying, doll.  I just…I can’t do what you’re asking me.”  

“You absolutely can.  I have all the faith in you.”  

“WHY?” He buried his head in his knees.  “I can’t do anything but...but…”  

The ground started rumbling again.  

“Happy place, Bucky.  Tell me about it.”  

“P-playing stickball.  In Brooklyn…”  

“Good.  Take me there.  I wanna see.”  

“You’ve  _ seen _ .”  

“I wanna see it again.  I always wanna see it, Bucky.”  

“I can’t.”  

“You  _ can! _ ”  

The rumbling stopped.  The wind stopped whipping around them.  The sun shone bright and they were in the middle of an empty street in Brooklyn.  Old Brooklyn.  But still Brooklyn.  

She stood up, dusting off her pants.  “Remember which one this was, Bucky?”  

“Nine,” he replied, walking over to the curb and picking up a ball and a stick.  He tossed the former to Darcy.  “Nine innings in a game of baseball.”  

“Or stickball,” she countered.  

“Or stickball.”  

“I suck at pitching.”  

The corner of his mouth twitched again as he swung the stick, warming up his shoulder.  “You suck at batting too.”  

“True story.  I’ll try though, okay?”  

He walked over to home plate, which was just a chalk outline on the road.  “Another true story: you’re not the best at flying either.”  

Letting her arms drop, she groaned.  “Duuuudee… gimme a break, it was my first day with wings.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love, so please leave me some love, maybe? 
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/), so you can hmu there if you are also on tumblr. ;)


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